Missing NFL Players May Have Died Just Hours After Boat Capsized

Two NFL players may have died just a few hours after their fishing boat capsized in rough seas and possibly before rescuers were even alerted that they and two others were lost off the west coast of Florida, according to Coast Guard records.

The lone survivor, Nick Schuyler, told the Coast Guard that oneby one, the other three men took off their life vests anddisappeared during the ordeal that began the evening of Feb. 28,according to a 23-page report provided to The Associated PressMonday under a Freedom of Information Act request.

The Coast Guard report, which redacts the men's names, says thegroup went roughly 70 miles - or 62 nautical miles - to fish foramberjack. Besides the 24-year-old Schuyler, also aboard the21-foot Everglades boat were Oakland Raiders linebacker MarquisCooper, free-agent NFL defensive lineman Corey Smith, who playedfor the Detroit Lions last season, and former University of SouthFlorida player William Bleakley. The bodies of Cooper, Smith andBleakley have not been recovered.

Around 5:30 p.m., the report said the group ran into trouble: Their anchor was stuck. Schuyler told investigators that he believed it was caught in a coral reef and they tried to free it, but water filled the boat and it capsized.

Tossed into the frigid water, the men managed to grab their lifevests. Schuyler, also a former South Florida player, said they heldon to the boat for four hours. But as the night wore on, their willto survive appears to have weakened and the effects of hypothermiawere likely setting in.

Schuyler told the Coast Guard that one of the men "freaked out" and took off his life vest and disappeared that night.

Another started getting unruly, throwing punches and later tookoff his life jacket, dove under the water and was never seen again.The third man thought he saw land nearly two days after the boatcapsized and decided to swim for it.

That man said his life jacket was too tight and he took it off, Schuyler told the Coast Guard.

Officials have said they found three life jackets: one on Schuyler, another near the boat and a third underneath.

It's unclear how accurate the account is. Schuyler, who wasfound clinging to the overturned boat about 35 miles off Clearwaterand nearly 48 hours after the accident, was suffering fromhypothermia and he has provided different accounts to the men'srelatives. For example, Bleakley's family said Schuyler told themthat their son held on to the boat with his college teammate untilhe weakened and died. Schuyler has also said that Bleakley helpedhim survive by talking to him and encouraging him during their lastnight together.

Marquis Cooper's father has questioned Schuyler's account thathis son removed his life jacket. Schuyler has not responded tointerview requests.

As time passed, their relatives grew worried because the groupwas expected home around sunset. One of the men's relativescontacted the Coast Guard around 1:30 a.m. on March 1 and a searchbegan.

Records document the Coast Guard's repeated attempts - andfrustrations - as rescuers tried to find the small white boat in astormy sea with heavy cloud cover and whitecaps making it tough tospot.

One person who called the Coast Guard reported that one of themen, presumably Cooper, had one week left before he was expected in California for football practice. The caller, whose name wasredacted from the report, said the group "could have possiblytried to go farther out to fish."

One of the men's wives was able to find a handheld GPS devicethat he had left at home and had apparently used in previous tripsto record the coordinates of favorite fishing spots. The CoastGuard used that data to refine their search, placing the likelylocation of the men about 10 nautical miles south of their expecteddestination.

The Coast Guard contacted the men's cell phone companies forhelp tracking their whereabouts, without success. They also sentthem text messages, stating that, "the CG is looking for yourequest you to contact us immediately."

"Being that these guys are inexperienced, don't look just at 50NM offshore, there might be a possibility that they wisened up andstayed close to shore, at least within visual of land," a CoastGuard officer wrote in one e-mail.

The same e-mail added that, "It might be worth considering getting the story out to media earlier than later more people on the lookout both on land and water."

During the search, the Coast Guard reported 14-foot seas offshore and wind gusts up to 30 mph.

More than 24 hours after starting their search, a sign of hope finally emerged.

The Coast Guard cutter Tornado spotted Schuyler, looking small in the vast ocean and clinging to the boat's hull.

At Tampa General Hospital, Schuyler's doctor called it a "miracle" that he survived in the 63-degree Gulf water for nearly two days, and said he probably could have lived only another five to 10 hours.

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